Workshop on the Role of Grassland Carbon Sequestration in Mitigation

Grasslands occupy around half of the ice free land area of the world but are currently excluded from carbon trading despite the significant emission reduction and carbon storage potential.

Livestock systems are often associated with greenhouse gas production particularly nitrous oxide and methane. However, grasslands soils are major sinks of carbon.

There is a need to pull together disparate sources of information on carbon sequestration in grasslands and to establish the extent to which management and other changes in these areas can contribute to enhanced sequestration and thus to climate change mitigation in the overall framework of the role of agriculture in climate change.

The workshop, which drew together 27 experts from around the world as well as input from members of the Grasslands Carbon Working Group, was held to take stock, evaluate, appraise and summarise the current state of knowledge with respect to the potential for carbon sequestration in the major grassland ecosystems of the world.

During the meeting information on available data related to contribution of grasslands and to carbon sequestration in different agro-ecological zones and under different management techniques was gathered and the results will be presented in a FAO publication.